20 February 2015 - Throwing Muses - Counting Backwards

It was only a matter of time, people.  I was going to break this seal eventually.   I just needed to find the right way and the right time.

On March 12, 1991, Throwing Muses released The Real Ramona, two weeks ahead of schedule.  I walked into that record store with the full intention of purchasing R.E.M.'s Out of Time, which was also released that day.  But, as Throwing Muses was my favorite band (still is), I had to go see if, maybe, just maybe, there was a schedule change.

19 February 2015 - Mary's Danish - Don't Crash The Car Tonight & It'll Probably Make Me Cry

Totally had to do a double today. But I had a good reason.  Mary's Danish was one great band with two amazing voices.  Gretchen Seager's voice was clearly well-suited for straight-ahead rock music.  Her voice was - is - raspy and powerful.  Take her lead vocal (with Julie Ritter taking background here) on their first single, "Don't Crash The Car Tonight", a drunk driving PSA waiting to happen....

Julie Ritter's voice, on the other hand, has a more bluesy feel.  Their 2nd single featured her voice (with Gretchen on background here) on a meloncholy ballad with a countryish - cowpunk, maybe - feel.

In both cases, their harmonies made the songs work, but it made for a versatile band.  Sadly, they broke up under label pressures in the early 90's, but their music lives on.

18 February 2015 - Angel Olsen - Forgiven/Forgotten

So far this week, I have given you music from the 80's and called it guilt-free.  Well, guilty is in the eye of the beholder.

So I had to bring you back to today.  Well, really, last year.  2014.

Angel Olsen's album Burn Your Fire For No Witness was, inarguably, one of the best of 2014 (on my list, it tied for #1).  It is criminal how ignored by radio - country, rock, whatever - this album was.  It was certainly in my heavy rotation all year long, and it will remain there for years to come.  

The entire album reminds me a lot of another classic album - Liz Phair's Exile in Guyville.  Both are angry and brilliant and occasionally profane.   Both are lo-fi masterpieces.  Both vacillate between electric fuzz and acoustic melancholy.

This was Angel Olsen's first full-band album (and only her 2nd overall).  Who knows what brilliance is to come?  

As an added bonus, here is Olsen, performing the song live in 2013, before her album was completed.  It's a little sparser, but it is amazing, still.

17 February 2015 - Concrete Blonde - Still In Hollywood

You might wonder how I selected the songs for this Guilt-Free week. 

I put my iPod on Shuffle.

And Track #2 was this song, the first national single for Los Angeles band Concrete Blonde.  No one knew who they were, and then they disappeared for a few years.  This song is angry, and brilliant, and paints a much different picture of Hollywood - a more true one, if you've ever been - than you see in the movies.  

16 February 2015 - The Cars - Just What I Needed

I don't mind you coming here

And wastin' all my time

'Cause when you're standing oh, so near

I kinda lose my mind

Who among us have not felt this way?  Rik Ocasek is just singing your feels.  So, I've decided to kick off Guilt-Free Week with a classic by The Cars.

13 February 2014 - Special Guilt-Free Friday Edition - Blake Babies - Brain Damage

Many of you don't know who the Blake Babies are.  But you do know who Juliana Hatfield is.  Well, if you were paying attention to the cover of Sassy magazine in the 90s, you know who Juliana Hatfield is. 

Or this blog, I guess.

Before she was Juliana Hatfield, she was lead singer of a band called the Blake Babies, featuring John Strohm and Freda Boner (who recruited Juliana) and occasionally their buddy Evan Dando, who later went on to found The Lemonheads (who occasionally had Juliana and John as members).  The Blake Babies broke up in the early 90's, but the four of them (not the well-received three-piece) got back together in 2001 for one last hurrah.

By far, the best song on God Bless The Blake Babies was this duet featuring Juliana and Evan. It's a dark, cool, angry, sad song that will worm its way into your ears and hook itself into your brain.  It isn't a typical Blake Babies song - it's much darker and more mature, to be sure - but it's close enough that you know it's them. 

The song was so good, and the chemistry between the two singers so strong, that they toured together as solo acts without the rest of the band and reprised this song. Check out the ad lib in this one!!!!!!

9 February 2015 - Charli XCX - Need Ur Luv

You all wanted a Charli XCX post.

You aren't getting the one you expected.

This isn't yet a single.  I really hope that it is.  The song that closes Sucker, it is, in this writer's opinion, the best song on the album.  It is full of ache and angst and hurt and love. It deserves to be a gigantic hit, and I hope it is.

This live performance from The Late Show With David Letterman begs two questions:

1. When did Charli stop getting dressed for public appearances?

 

2. Why did Dave give Charli a Cat Paw?

4 February 2015 - T.I. feat. Iggy Azalea - No Mediocre

On the surface, this song is hugely misongynistic.  Gee, T.I. has pretty high standards in women...

....until Iggy Iggy turns it into a brilliant call-and-response rap.   There are few people who T.I. would allow to knock him down a few pegs.  Iggy Azalea is one of them.

3 February 2015 - Meghan Trainor - Lips Are Movin'

I was NOT a fan of "All About That Bass", which was a body shaming song against body shaming wrapped up in some back pride.

I AM a fan of "Lips Are Movin'", which has a lot of the same do-wop sensibilities, white-girl rapping.... and a kitty cat dress.  Let's face it.  We all love the kitty cat dress.

Truthfully, it's an angrier song, but it's a lot more fun.  And I am truthfully happy to see someone with a lick of songwriting talent become more than a 1-hit wonder.
 

2 February 2015 - Sam Phillips - I Don't Want To Fall In Love

It was a brilliant idea.

Get an unsung, excellent musician to score the TV show Gilmore Girls. Best show ever, by the way.  But that's for another day;

Sam Phillips was that musician.

This song is from her first album as Sam (her real name is Leslie, under which moniker she performed as a Christian artist), and it is brilliant and quiet while still conveying the ache of the song.
 

30 January 2015 - The Pierces - Secret

Let's just open right up with a fact:

This song is the theme song to the television series Pretty Little Liars.

That's pretty much the only reason these two ladies are on this blog.  This song, away from the context of the show (the song predates the show), is dark and sinister and devilish.  It's got a different feel - different harmonies - than some of their other work.

And it's delightful fun.  So enjoy it.

29 January 2015 - Guided By Voices - Hold On Hope

I started off writing this not knowing exactly what song I would choose.  It's the first time I knew I wanted to do a blog post, but I didn't know what I wanted to write.  You see, it's been a tough day. I had a lot on my mind today.

But I came out of today with one thing, and that was hope.  And this song, which might be the most beautiful thing Guided by Voices ever did.... this song popped in my head.  It was on an episode of Scrubs, so it totally counts.   And if I am being honest... it makes me teary, every time.  I hope you enjoy it, too.

26 January 2015 - Taylor Swift - Shake It Off

Sigh.  Yes.  I am posting this.

I can't help it.  The song is damned catchy.  Admit it.

22 January 2015 - Luscious Jackson - Citysong

When I'm about to go crazy, 'cause I'm still livin' here
I just get my friends together and we dance, dance, dance.

I find it slightly ironic that Kate Schellenbach left The Beastie Boys, over creative differences surrounding the hip hop direction that band was taking, to join Luscious Jackson, a group that's for more hip hop than punk.

I mean, I'm glad she did.  First of all, I like Luscious Jackson a hell of a lot more than I ever liked The Beastie Boys.  The contrasts in this song between Gabby Glaser's cool verses and Jill Cuniff's frantic chorus are not atypical in Luscious Jackson's style.  Even through there's a significant Curtis Mayfield sample here, Kate's drum beat is important. 

(I am not discounting Vivian Trimble here.  Don't worry, keyboard fans.  She's important, too.)

Anyway, this is a group that sat in the shadow of the Beasties for a very long time, and didn't get proper recognition.  Today, we are here to give them proper recognition.

21 January 2015 - Gordon Lightfoot - Sundown

It's a cheap throwaway song about getting high and being in a bad relationship.  And it's an instant classic.

20 January 2015 - Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories - Do You Sleep

Part of the point of this blog is to shine a light on all that music that we really do like, whether we want to admit it or not.

A lot of my friends really like Lisa Loeb.  Almost all of them are afraid to admit it.  So, this post is my duty, a public service to all those friends.

But let's talk about this song, a clear breakup song, which is most likely the 2nd song you every heard by the band (I mean, we keep talking about Lisa Loeb like Nine Stories isn't in the room), after the huge, HUGE hit song "Stay".  This song is far more complex than that one, as is the video - no one-take wonders on this one.



What many of you do not know, however, is that this song predates "Stay" by a fair bit.  It appears on their self-released Purple Tape, which was literally a purple cassette tape demo (reissued years later, of course, because that's how things go).  That really was Lisa Loeb, and here it is.

19 January 2015 - Lorde - Bravado

Before there was Pure Heroine, there was The Love Club EP.  That was an EP that Lorde released on Soundhound... featuring a little song that ended up being a big hit.  This post is not about that song.

This post is about "Bravado", a song about someone who is withdrawn, doesn't want to be, and breaks out of her shell.  Kind of seems to me like Lorde might be talking about herself.  I personally love how this song starts out quiet and builds huge with her confidence.

I'd like to remind all of you that this was released in 2013 and recorded in 2012.  She turned 16 in 2012.  She was barely 16 when she recorded this, and obviously already had it written.  And yet, the maturity in both music and lyic are amazing. 

(Edit: 13 Nov 2020)  The official video disappeared, so here's a fan-made one featuring scenes from the movie Moonlight.  

 

When Lorde went to Live on Letterman, she didn't forget this song, even if it didn't make her album.  Her live performance built up just as much as the song does on record.

16 January 2015 - Suzanne Vega - Tired of Sleeping

How does one follow up an unexpected hit song ("Luka") and album (the great Solitude Standing)?  That's always a challenge. 

Suzanne Vega did it in 1990 with a Grammy-award winning album (Days of Open Hand) that went a little further from her acoustic roots and more to piano and organ music. And, at the time, I liked it, but didn't love it.  Some songs, however, jumped out at me and wouldn't let go.  Even 25 years later, this song, which was not released as a single, but was the lead song on the album, still haunts me.  There's no video, but you can hear the richness of the song, the layers, the depth.  Lyrically, it's about dreams, but it's also a scary, haunting song about being a daughter having bad dreams.

This is a live version from Sessions on West 54th.  It's quieter and doesn't have the pipe organ part (clearly replaced with a concertina).  It's slightly less haunting, but well performed.

As Suzanne Vega has commonly done, she's gone back and, rather than just release a greatest hits album, and rerecorded and reinvented her songs.  This one was done in a completely different key, and only acoustic, with a mandolin accompaniment replacing the organ.  

12 January 2015 - Steve Aoki & Angger Dimas ft. Iggy Azalea - Beat Down

Did you even know this was a thing?

It's a thing from 2012 is what it is.  Way before anything that resembled a hit single.  But it's amazing and it is awesome and this song is what paved the way for the Iggy Iggs we all know and love today.

(Update: 8 June 2021):  In tribute to the greatness that is this blog, I thought I'd give you guys a treat - Iggy Azalea performing this song, live in 2016.  Even after she was a big hit maker, she never forgot where it all began.

7 January 2015 - Röyksopp and Robyn - Do It Again

What happens when you mix a pop artist from Sweden with Norway's greatest electronic export?

Arguably the best single of 2014. 

It's just that simple.

6 January 2015 - Ashlee Simpson - Little Miss Obsessive

It was three years ago that Scott and I opened this blog with this song, professing our adoration for all things Ashlee Simpson.  It only makes sense that we post her last song to chart in the United States (#96 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2008) from her third album to kick off Year 4.

By the way, not an easy video to find.  Almost as if she wants us to forget about this song.  I don't know why - it isn't her best work, but that doesn't mean it's bad.

2 January 2015 - Marina and the Diamonds - Froot

I always end the year with something remarkable from the prior year - an artist that made a difference to me over the year.  I don't usually post a brand new single.

So, I just didn't post an end of year song.  I decided to start fresh in 2015. 

Thank you, Marina, for forcing me to bend my rules slightly.  It's been a long time since Electra Heart.  Froot is almost certain to be the 2nd ever album I ever preorder (Sucker being the first).  But this song is just too, too cool to ignore.